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PRUNING 




«oi'VHi«;ii r. !»<»«, Hv liiK I'Ki I I -«Ju<»wi-.i< Co.. St. .rosiKPH, Mo. 



Bro.Jonathan*' Series of Fruit Books 



Copyrighted and published exclusively by The Frult-Grower 
Company, Saint Joseph, Missouri, 



This is a series of booklets published by The Pruit-Grower 

Co., St. Joseph, Mo., on different phases of fruit culture, 

which are intended to help those engaged in the pursuit of 

horticulture. All books are illustrated. 

No. 1 — "Propag:ating Trees and Plants." — Describes the pro- 
cess of budding, grafting, layering, etc. It is by Prof. W. 
L. Howard of the University of Missouri, with protographa 
by E. H. Favor, of the same institution. 

No. 2 — "A Treatise on Spraying." — By Prof. J. M. Stedman, 
entomologist of the Missouri Experiment Station. Many of 
the most destructive insects are shown, with full directions 
for combating them. 

No. 3 — "How to Grow Strawberries." — By Dr. J. C. Whltten, 
professor of horticulture of the University of Missouri. It 
treats of growing Strawberries as a commercial crop or for 
home use 

No. 4 — "The Home Garden." — By Prof. Howard and Mr. 
Favor. It tells how to make hotbeds, coldframes, etc.; how 
to handle them to the best advantage. The more common 
garden vegetables are discussed, together with some which 
are too often neglected 

No. 5 — "Paokingr and Marketing: Fruits." — By Prof. F. A.. 
Waugh, of Massachusetts Agricultural College. This book 
tells about the correct times for picking different fruits, 
describes different packages used in which to market them. 

No. 6 — "A Book About Bush Fruits." — By Prof. A. T. Erw'n 
of Iowa Agricultural College. Treats of blackberries, rasp- 
berries, etc., with methods of culture; also gives recipes 
for canning and preserving. 

No. 7— "Growing Grapes."— By E. H. Riehl. Alton, 111. Mr. 
RIehl is a successful commercial grower, and discusses va- 
rieties, modes of training, etc. 

No. 8 — "Hints on Pruning." — By Dr. J. C. Whltten. The 
pruning of different kinds of fruit trees and plants Is dis- 
cussed, with reasons for the methods recommended. 

No. 9 — "Apple Culture, with a Chapter on Pears." — By Dr. J. 
C. Whitten. This is Intended to be a booklet for the prac- 
tical man who wants to know how to get some good from 
his orchard. 

No. 10 — "Success With Stone Fruits."— By Prof. F. A. Waugh 
The different stone fruits are treated, with lists of best 
varieties of each. Methods of planting, pruning, etc.. are 
discussed for each class. 

These Booklets Will Be Sent Postpaid for 

25c Ezwch or Five for One Dollswr 



HINTS ON 

PRUNING 



Some Suggestions Which Will be Found 

Helpful in Shaping and Training 

Fruit Trees and Plants and 

Ornamental Shrubs. 



By J. C. WHITTEN 

Professor of Horticulture, University of Missouri 



PUBLISHED BY THE FRUIT=GROWER COMPANY 

SAINT JOSEPH. MISSOURI 

1906 



LIBRARY of congress] 


Two CoDies 


Received 


MAY 4 


1906 


CD Cooyrifrfit Entry ^ 

CLASaf ^ XXc. NO. 

^ COPY B. ^ 



^"Y^ '^ 



Brother Jonathan 
Series 




Booklet No. 8 



Introduction 

There is perhaps no more interesting and fascinat- 
ing phase of horticultural work than pruning trees 
and plants. A plant is a plastic, responsive, chang- 
ing, living organism which is affected by everything 
which we do to it. We cannot remove a single part 
of it without the parts which remain being affected 
by this removal. The removal of a branch power- 
fully affects the development of the branches which 
remain; the shortening of a limb modifies greatly 
the character which will be assumed by the parts of 
this limb which are left on the tree. A plant is 
capable of being shaped or moulded by pruning. 
He who prunes, then, will get results. Whether 
these results are fortunate or unfortunate, results at 
least are sure to be obtained. A plcint is sure to 
respond to everything which we do to it. It is by 
pruning, and then watching and studying the results 
which will be obtained, as the plant grows, that the 
intelligent horticulturist learns how to prune. 

Pruning cannot be learned from books. It must 
be learned by studying the habits of plants and the 
results of pruning. Books on pruning can, however, 
give one ideas which will enable one more readily to 
learn how to prune when he comes to do the work. 
If one desires to learn how to prune, it is highly de- 
sirable to read what has been written upon the sub- 
ject in horticultural books and horticultural papers. 
This reading should not be done with the expecta- 
tion that when it is finished the reader will know 
how to prune, and that the book may be permanent- 
ly closed, pne should read with the idea that it 
may give him a starting point in the practical opera- 
tion of pruning, and that it will enable him the more 
quickly and the more accurately to interpret the re- 
sults which he obtains by the work of pruning it- 



HINTS ON PRUNING 



self. One may read a chapter on pruning and then 
go to the orchard and prune a tree, bearing in mind 
what the book said. He may then watch his tree 
grow for a season and then read again the same 
chapter. If he has lived, meantime, in sympathy 
with his tree, and if the written chapter is worth 
reading, he will get more out of the second read- 
ing than he did from the first. This is because he 
is able to associate with the story which the book 
tells, the storv which the tree reveals of how the 
pruning has affected its growth. 

If the writer of this little book can do no mor^ 
than to impress upon the minds of readers the fact 
that the book is useless unless the reader associates 
its suggestions with the actual experience of prun- 
ing, he will have accomplished something at least. 
The more one prunes, and studies the results of 
pruning by observing the trees themselves, the more 
helpful will the suggestions in books become. The 
writer has profited much by the suggestions made 
by others concerning pruning. Our horticultural 
papers, experiment station bulletins, books on horti- 
culture and other literature on the subject teem with 
helpful material; every successful fruit-grower of 
his acquaintance has been his teacher; the trees 
which he has pruned, however, have been the chief 
interpreter, of the true meaning of all these help- 
ful suggestions. If the readers of this little book 
are led by it to a clearer study of their trees, the 
book will have fulfilled its purpose. 



Some Qeneral Obserbations 
on Pruning 

It is comoaratively easy for the skilful horticul- 
turist to prune a tree so as to secure the desired! 
results. It is a very difficult matter for him to tell 
others how to prune trees in general. There is per- 
haps no other phase of horticultural work in which 
it is more difficult to formulate definite principles, 
or to give specific directions, then in pruning. If 
each tree were just like every other tree of the same 
variety, and was growing under just the same condi- 
tions, it might then be possible to give dogmatic 
rules for pruning. As a matter of fact, no two trees 
are just alike, and consequently no two should, or 
could, be pruned in just the same way. Each tree 
presents its own peculiarities of form and growth, 
and should be pruned in accordance with its own 
needs. 

The above facts are in no wise discouraging to 
the fruit-grower. They do not signify that there is 
no such thing as rational pruning. On the other 
hand, these facts go to show that rational common 
sense must be used in pruning; that the operator 
cannot succeed by e:oing at it in an unthinking man- 
ner, blindly following some dogmatic rule. It puts 
the work on a plane of intelligent procedure, where 
mind, judgment and knowledge must be employed 
in adapting the work to the needs of each individual 
tree. It renders the operation worth the while of 
the intelligent man — makes it an intelligent pursuit, 
rather than a monotonous drudgery. 

In order to make some of the above statements 
more concrete, suppose we go to the orchard with a 
skilful fruit-grower. In pruning the first tree, he 
finds a single branch which he thinks should be re- 



HINTS ON PRUNING 



moved. It is not needed by the tree; it is in the 
way; he prunes it out. The tree, he tells us, is now 
well pruned. We go to the next tree in the row. 
It is of the same variety and was planted at the same 
time as the first. We look for a similar surplus 
branch. It is not there. This second tree has not 
the same number of branches as the first. Its 
branches do not grow in the same position, or in 
quite the same relation to each other. What shall 
be done? After looking this tree over, the fruit- 
grower cuts out a branch. It occupied an entirely 
different position from the branch which was cut 
from the first tree, and the fruit-grower gave an 
entirely different explanation of his reason for re- 
moving it, from that which prompted him to re- 
move the previous branch. He now remarks that 
this second tree is as well pruned as the first. Still, 
after being pruned equally well the two trees are 
not alike. One may tell them apart as easily as he 
can distinguish John from Henry. Where is the 
fruit-grower's rule for pruning? 

While pruning cannot be reduced to definite 
rules, which will apply definitely to each individual 
plant, there are so-called "systems" of pruning the 
various species of plants which mean something 
more or less definite. In grape pruning there are 
in this country the upright and the drooping sys- 
tems. In ornamental trees and shrubs there are 
the natural forms and the formal topiary work, 
which consists of giving the plants formal or fan- 
tastic shapes. In European countries especially, 
one is struck with the formal methods of pruning, 
or rather training, fruit trees, which is in contrast 
with the more natural form which similar trees are 
given in this country. Some of these differences in 
ideal are purely a matter of taste, while others are 
employed to suit a certain definite purpose, or to 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 9 

adapt the plant to given surroundings or environ- 
ment. 

The fruit-grower who has observed fruit trees in 
the Atlantic coast states and in the Central West 
cannot fail to be struck by certain fundamental dif- 
ferences in the shape of fruit trees, and the manner 
in which they are pruned in these different sections. 
In the East, fruit trees are generally given high 
heads, while in the Central West they are headed 
low. In the East, the trees are usually pruned with 
somewhat open heads, while in the West the heads 
are far more dense and compact. These differences 
are mainly due to an attempt to adapt the trees to 
the climatic conditions of each section. 

Climatic environment governs to a marked degree 
the shape of plant which will prove to be best suited 
to a given locality, and consequently is largely re- 
sponsible for the ideal which is carried out in a given 
section of country. The amount of bright sunlight, 
the humidity of the atmosphere, the prevalence of 
severe or drying winds, all go to affect the method 
of pruning. 

In the maritime climate of the sea coast region, 
high, open heads are desired to admit sunlight and 
air. In this section, where more or less foggy 
weather prevails, the fruit needs sunlight to de- 
velop properly and to take on good color and good 
flavor. In the continental climate of the Central 
West, with practically no moisture screen in the at- 
mosphere, compact heads to the trees admit suf- 
ficient sunlight. Here, in fact, open heads often 
admit too much sunlight for the good of the tree, 
and sun scald of the trunk and main limbs may 
result. 

In a dry atmosphere, with bright sunlight, and 
particularly if drying winds prevail, low, compact 
heads oppose in a measure too much evaporation of 



10 HINTS ON PRUNING 

moisture from the parts of the tree, while in a humid 
climate no such precaution is necessary to protect 
the trees from rapid drying out. In a very humid 
climate, high, open heaas, to admit of a reasonable 
degree of dryness, affords a more congenial atmos- 
phere for the parts of the tree. Strong winds un- 
favorably affect high, open heads. They strain the 
trees, break off the limbs and shake off the fruit 
prematurely. Low, compact heads break up the 
force of the wind, tend to relieve the tree from 
strain by affording less leverage to the wind, and 
oppose the shaking off of fruit. 

The practice, prevalent in Europe, of training the 
limbs of fruit trees laterally, on a trellis or wall, 
much as we train grapes in this country, so that 
each main limb and its attendant fruiting twigs are 
fully exposed to sunlight and air, carries out in still 
greater degree the principle of the open head in the 
East. In the maritime sections of Europe the at- 
mosphere is very humid. Not enough sunlight is 
secured, at times, for the best development and rip- 
ening of the fruit unless each branch of it is fully 
exposed to the sun. Securing sufficient sunlight 
for the fruit is not the only object sought in these 
methods of training, but it is one object. 

There are many other general principles that un- 
derlie pruning, and the adaptation of it to different 
conditions. For instance, the open, high head gen- 
erally opposes the development of fungous diseases, 
especially in a moist climate, and hence trees are 
generally pruned less dense in humid districts than 
in dry, sunny ones. To some extent also the ideal 
of the grower may enter into the choice of a method 
of pruning. These factors will be discussed more at 
length, however, in the following chapters, under 
the head of each individual kind of fruit discussed. 



FRUIT-GROWER CO ST. JOSEPH, MO. 11 

PRUNING THE APPLE. 
Pruning the apple tree may be said to begin at 
the time of shaping the young tree in the nursery. 
The one-year-old apple tree in the nursery usually 
consists of a straight stem, or whip, without side 
branches. The following spring many of the lateral 
buds of this straight whip push into growth, form- 
ing rosettes of leave?, or branches, from the ground 
up. The nurseryman expresses it by saying that 
the tree "feathers out" from the ground up. In 
order to secure the branching system, or head, at the 
right height these lower branches which are be- 
ginning to push out leaves are rubbed off up to the 
desired height, so no permanent limbs may develop 
too near the ground. The branches which are left 
continue to grow, forming the head of the tree. The 
height of the head of the tree is determined by the 
height to which these young side branches are rubbed 
off. Some desire high heads and some prefer low 
ones. This is partly a matter of taste and is partly 
determined by the section of country, or climatic 
conditions, where the tree is to grow. 

Generally speaking, low heads are preferred in 
the Central West, where there is much bright sun- 
light, or where drying winds prevail. Higher heads 
are usually employed in the sea coast region of 
the East, where there is less bright sunlight. Low 
heads shade the trunk and main limbs from bright 
sunlight and oppose sun scald in the West, where 
this trouble is likely to occur. Low heads are also 
favored in the Northwest, where severe winds tend 
to strain the trees if they are headed too high. 
Higher heads allow the parts of the tree and the 
ground under it to get sunlight, v/hich in a humid 
climate opposes the development of fungous dis- 
eases. There seems to be a general tendency, the 



12 HI^ TS ON PRUNING 

country over, toward the adoption of lower heads 
for apple trees. 

If one-year-old apple trees are to be set in the 
orchard they usually consist of straight whips, as 
has been suggested. The pruning at the time of 
setting will be to simply cut back the tree to a point 
about six or eight inches above where the head is 
to form. The main branches will then be put out 
near the top of the whip which is left. The topmost 
Dud which is left will generally tend to form a 
straight central trunk, or leader. Occasionally a 
one-year-old apple tree may be induced to branch 
and form its head the first year in the nursery. This 
IS especially true toward the southern range of com- 
mercial apple growing, where the seasons are long. 
If the one-year-old tree is well headed at the time 
it is set in the orchard it should be pruned about 
the sam.e as a two-year-old tree. 

A two-year-old apple tree should be well headed 
in the nursery. It will generally consist of a straight 
trunk and the requisite number of main limbs at the 
time it is set in the orchard. At the time of setting 
it should be pruned by shortening the side branches 
somewhat. Since much of the root system is re- 
moved in digging the tree, it is necessary to cut 
back the limbs so they will not evaporate more 
water than can be taken up by the cut-back roots. 
On an average about one-half of the length of the 
limbs should be removed. The amount will vary 
with different trees from one-third to two-thirds. 
The lower limbs should be left longer and the upper 
ones shorter, if a central leader is to be established 
in the tree. If the leader is very much longer than 
the limbs it should be shortened somewhat. 

In case a tree is badly forked, that is, has two 
leaders, the fork should be corrected by cutting back 
one side of it. A forked tree may grow well for a 




Correcting a bad fork at the time of planting out a 
two-year-old apple tree. 



14 HINTS ON PRUNING 

time, but it is liable to split down when the tree is 
older and especially when it is loaded with fruit. 
One side of the fork may be removed entirely if 
this can be done without leaving too large a wound 
on the body of the tree. If there is danger of mak- 
ing a wound so large as to drv out and injure the 
leader which is left, it is better to cut back the sur- 
plus leader to a short stub having a few buds.. This 
stub will put out side branches oftentimes and even- 
tually become a part of the branching system of 
the tree. If it is in the way next year it may be re- 
moved entirely the second year after the tree has 
become well established. A large wound will heal 
better on a well established tree than it will if made 
at the ti~e of transplanting. 

The root system should also be carefully pruned. 
First, any broken, ragged or badly bruised ends of 
roots should be pruned back to where the wood is in 
good condition. In digging the trees it is quite com- 
m.on that ragged wounds will be left v/here the roots 
are cut off. A ragged wound will not heal so read- 
ily as it v/ill if the root is cut with a smooth cut. 
In shaping the roots a sharp knife should be used 
to make smooth cuts. If any root is unusually 
long it should be shortened so it will not have to be 
bent to get it into the hole where the tree is to be 
planted. 

It has been thought by some that it was best to 
make the cut on the lower side of a main root when 
cutting it back. In order to accomplish this it is 
necessary to hold the tree so the trunk will hang 
down, leaving the under side of the roots upward, 
so it can be cut on the lower side. It was argued 
that new roots are often emitted from the cut sur- 
faces made at the ends of the main roots, and that 
these new roots will form more readily if they can 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 15 

be put out from below than if they must form from 
a cut on the upper side of a root. 

Experiments at the Missouri Experiment Station 
seem to indicate that there is no advantage in fol- 
lowing this practice. A number of trees have been 
planted for comparison on several occasions. Part 
of them had their roots pruned so all the cuts were 
on the lower side of their roots. The others were 
pruned so all cuts came on the upper side of the 
roots. The latter is the more convenient, as it en- 
ables the operator to hold the trunk of the tree 
under one arm while he cuts the roots of the tree 
from the upper surface. 

An examination of the trees whose roots were 
pruned by either method showed that new roots 
were produced as freely from those which had the 
cuts on the upper surface as they were from those 
where the cuts were on the lower surface. Many 
of the new rootlets were put out from the sides of 
the main roots, anyway. Where the new roots were 
put out from the cut surfaces they started sooner, 
on an average, where the cuts were on the upper 
surface. If there was any advantage at all it was in 
favor of the trees whose roots were cut on the upper 
side. 

This fact seemed to be explainable on the ground 
that the soil settled down firmly onto the cut sur- 
faces which were on the upper sides of the roots, 
while in some cases it settled away slightl/ from 
the cuts which were on the lower sides. In care- 
fully taking the soil away from the roots after they 
had begun to make new rootlets, it was found that 
these new rootlets started most readily where the 
roil cam.e in close, firm contact with the roots. The 
weight of the soil caused it to settle tight agiinst 
the upper surfaces of the roots. In some cases, how- 
ever, it settled down away from the ends of the 



16 HINTS ON PKUNING 

roots where the cut was on the lower side, leaving 
a slight air space under the cut. In such cases new 
rootlets v/ere slow in starting. The wood of the 
cut ends did not die back as a rule in cases where 
the cuts were on the upper sides, as moisture could 
oe taken in through the wounds which were in close 
contact with the soil. Where the cuts were below 
the cut ends dried out somewhat in many cases, be- 
cause the soil did not come in close contact with the 
cut ends. 

In addition to cutting back the main roots to a 
proper length, or to where the wood is sound and 
unbroken, it is also necessary to prune the fibrous 
roots somewhat. If the fine rootlets have dried out 
in shipment or in handling after the trees are dug, 
it is best to prune out all the dry. dead rootlets. If 
all the fine rootlets are dry and dead they should 
be cut off close to the main roots. Dead rootlets 
do no good on the root system, and they may do 
harm. One of the greatest dangers from leaving any 
dead rootlets on the tree is that they prevent the 
soil from coming in close contact with the live roots 
in planting. As soon as the rootlets dry out and be- 
gin to die they become harsh, stiff and begin to 
curl up. This makes a springy mass of fibres sur- 
rounding each main root. The-se curled, springy 
rootlets keep the soil from coming in contact with 
the roots. Even if the rootlets are not dry and dead, 
they rnay be shortened somewhat so as to allov/ 
the soil to be the more readily worked in among 
the main roots which remain. 

This should not be construed to mean that it is a 
matter of indifference whether or rot a tree has all 
of its rootlets dry and dead when it is planted. The 
writer prefers to have fresh rootlets in abundance. 
If they are dead, however, it is better to remove 
them and have them out of the way than it' is to 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 17 

leave them to rot and die on the tree after it is put 
in the ground. In fact, it is being learned that it is 
not necessary to have such large and abundant root 
systems as was formerly supposed. 

Any diseased parts should also be cut from the 
roots before the tree is planted. If a root system is 
badly diseased it is best not to plant the tree. It 
may, however, have minor knots on the smaller 
roots and still be a good tree, providing these parts 
can be cut away without injury to the root system. 
Occasionally a root gall, knot or wound may exist 
on a small root, which when cut away will leave a 
good tree. Any tree whose roots show injuries or 
diseases which cannot be pruned away without in- 
jury to the root system should be discarded. 

It will be seen from the above that pruning at 
the time of planting the trees in the orchard consists 
of proper shaping of the root system and of giving 
the top or head of the tree the right form. In prun- 
ing the top one should keep in mind two things, 
to cut back enough of its wood to reduce evapora- 
tion so the cut-back root system can supply enough 
water and to shape the foundation for the future 
branching system of the tree. 

Subsequent pruning should consist in keeping the 
tree symmetrical, in regulating the density of the 
branching system to suit the particular climate, to 
remove any dead, diseased or broken parts and to 
control, so far as pruning may, the fruitfulness of 
the tree. 

In continental climates, such as the Central West, 
where a dense head is to be maintained, rnany of 
the best growers prefer to establish and maintain a 
central trunk, or leader, around which the main 
limbs are symmetrically arranged. In order to main- 
tain this leader it is necessary to correct each year 
any forks which form in it. If two buds start into 



18 MINTS ON PRUNING 

about equal growth in spring they may form a fork. 
This may be corrected by pinching out one of these 
buds as soon in spring as the fork is observed, or 
the trees may be allowed to grow during the sum- 
mer and one side of the fork cut off the following 
wmter. In order to enable the leader to keep in the 
ascendency it is also necessary to prevent any of 
the side limbs from outgrowing it and making a 
second leader. In order to accomplish the latter 
purpose it is best to shorten any excessively long 
limbs by cutting them back to the desired length 
in winter. 

While it is perhaps best to allow the tree to 
carry all its limbs at the time the tree is planted out 
in the orchard, some of them may require thinning 
out a little later, after the tree is established. A 
goodly number of branches may be beneficial at 
the time of planting the tree in the orchard. In a 
sunny climate especially they will put out leaves 
which will help to shade the trunk of the tree until 
it becomes established. These leaves will aho elab- 
orate plant food which is brought up as crude sap 
from the roots, and so secure a stockier growth of 
the tree the first year than would be secured if the 
branches were thinned out at that time. The per- 
manent side limbs should not all be allowed to form 
at the £-arne point on the trunk, but should be ranged 
on the trunk some distance apart, so they will not 
crowd and split when they become much thickened. 
If the tree carries more side branches at the time 
of planting than it will need permanently, the sur- 
plus ones may be thinned out from time to time. 
Often the first thinning may begin the first winter 
after the tree is planted in the orchard. 

In thinning out any of the side branches which 
were allowed to grow for a time after the tree was 
planted out, it is well to remember that in a sunny 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 19 

climate especially care should be taken not to open 
up gaps in the head of the tree which will expose 
the trunk to bright sunlight and sun scald. This is 
especially important in the case of branches on the 
routh side of the tree from which the most sunlight 
is received. Often a limb may be removed from the 
north side which it would be unsafe to remove from 
the south side. If the removal of a surplus limb 
threatens to let in too much sunlight the limb may 
for the first year simply be cut back, say to one of 
its lower side shoots, and then removed entirely the 
following year. This cutting back gives opportunity 
for the adjoining branches to push out new growth 
which will fill the gap made in shortening the limb. 
After the gap is filled the rest of the shortened limb 
may be removed. 

In some cases the growth of the limbs on one side 
of the tree will be stronger than the growth of the 
limbs on the opposite side of the tree. In the West 
the north side of the tree tends to outgrow the south 
side. The northern limbs lengthen faster and spread 
out more at right angles to the trunk. This is be- 
cause of the drying and heating effect of the bright 
sun on the south side. If allowed to continue the 
northern limbs may become so heavy as to tip the 
tree toward the north and still further expose the 
south side of the trunk or main limbs. On this ac- 
count it is well to keep the tree symmetrical by 
shortening the longer north limbs each winter, and 
where possible thin them a little to reduce their 
weight. This keeps the tree in balance. 

Some varieties of apple trees do not make many 
limbs in the nursery and often these are straggling 
and not well distributed around the trunk of the 
tree. Cutting back the limbs at the time of trans- 
planting will often induce more limbs to form so as 
to close the gaps. Still further shortening the limbs 




Two-year-old apple tree before and after pruning- at 
the time of planting in orchard. 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 21 

during winter the first two or three years after the 
trees are planted out will also enable the grower to 
induce additional main limbs to form. Where it is 
desirable to induce better distribution of limbs it 
IS well to bear in mind that cutting back to a bud 
next to the open side or gap will result in this bud 
pushing out a limb to fill the gap, while if the limb 
was cut to a bud which grew next to an adjoining 
limb the resulting branch would tend toward, rather 
than away from this limb. 

It is best to remove surplus limbs while they are 
small, rather than after they become large. The re- 
moval of large limbs exposes parts of the bark of 
the tree to sunlight which has heretofore been shad- 
ed. The wounds heal far better if the limbs are 
cut when they are young. Adjacent limbs make 
more ready to grow to fill the gaps if surplus limbs 
are removed while they are young. In fact, the main 
limbs of the tree should be determined upon and 
established as early as possible after the tree is plant- 
ed out. 

In humid climates, where an open head is desired, 
it is often customary to shape the tree so its head 
will consist of about five scaffold limbs and dis- 
pense with the leader. If these main limbs are not 
already present when the tree is planted in the or- 
chard they should be induced to form as early as 
possible by judicious cutting back in winter. After 
they are formed each year's pruning will consist of 
keeping the tree symmetrical by shortening any long 
limbs which tend to outgrow their fellows and in 
remxoving surplus limbs as fast as new growth out- 
ward tends to shade the smaller limbs within. 

In almost any climate those who prune often cut 
away too much wood. It is best to look ahead and 
use such judgment in shaping the tree that the re- 
moval of large limbs, or of large quantities of wood 



22 HINTS ON PRUNING 

at one time, will not be necessary. It is better to 
remove a surplus limb before it becomes a menace 
to the welfare of the tree than to remove it after 
it has gotten large and already injured the per- 
manent limbs. 

Much of the pruning of apple trees may be done 
in late winter or early spring. It is not best to 
prune when the wood is frozen hard as the wounds 
check, dry out, and do not heal so well as they do 
if the cutting is done on mild days. It is best not to 
prune during that season in spring when the wounds 
will bleed. This exudation of sap undoubtedly 
causes loss of food supply to the tree, and in addi- 
tion it sometimes induces the development of organ- 
isms of decay in the wounds, so the latter do not 
heal £0 readily as they would if the cut were made 
before or after the bleeding season. 

Pruning may be done at almost any time. Many 
growers prefer to go over their orchards in summer 
as well as in winter to attend to any pruning that 
any of the trees may need. The suggestion that 
trees may be pruned in both summer and winter 
does not imply that severe pruning and lots of it is 
desirable. On the other hand, if pruning is looked 
after frequently very little pruning at any one time 
will suffice. Dead or diseased parts should be re- 
moved whenever they occur. 

In a general way it may be said that cutting limbs 
back somewhat in winter often induces a more vig- 
orous growth of wood the following spring. If a 
part of the twigs is removed more sap is supplied 
to those which remain the following spring. The 
stored food, abundant especially at the base of the 
tree and in the roots, will be supplied to fewer buds 
if winter pruning has removed some of them. This 
results in increased wood growth. One may to some 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 23 

extent increase the vigor of wood growth of his 
trees by pruning in winter. 

On the other hand, pruning in summer may result 
in less luxuriant wood growth. Shortening a growing 
branch at the right time in summer may stop its 
length growth and induce fruit buds to form upon it. 
In European plantations, trees trained upon walls or 
trellises, where labor is cheap, are usually pruned in 
summer to induce the formation of the desired num- 
ber of fruit buds. They are also pruned in winter 
to thin surplus fruit spurs and to invigorate wood 
growth the following spring. There is an old adage, 
"prune in winter for wood and in summer for 
fruit." 

Perhaps no reason may be given why summer 
pruning may be made to induce the formation of 
fruit buds further than to say that shortening a 
twig, at the right time, while it is growing, stops its 
length growth and turns the food to the buds which 
develop as fruit buds. Furthermore, removing twigs 
and leaves in summer lessens the amount of food 
elaborating surface which temporarily checks 
growth. Checking the length growth of a plant 
often results in the formation of fruit buds. 

A tree which makes abnormally strong, vigorous 
wood growth does not usually produce much fruit 
until this vigorous growth is checked. Anything 
which tends to check the abnormally strong groAvth 
of a tree may throw it into bearing. A tree which 
is making abnormally weak wood growth may not 
fruit either. At times, however, a tree may meet 
with some accident which lessens its growth very 
much and the tree may set fruit so freely that it 
will bear itself to death. The grower will do well 
to acquaint himself with the amount of winter prun- 
ing or summer pruning which gives best results in 
his locality. 



24 HINTS ON PRUNING 

PRUNING THE PEAR. 

Much that has been said with regard to pruning 
the apple will apply in pruning the pear. The pear 
is closely related to the apple and grows with much 
the same habit. It produces its fruit on short spurs, 
in the body of the tree, or closely attached to the 
main limbs, like the apple. In this respect both 
the apple and the pear may be contrasted with the 
peach, which bears fruit on long whips of new 
growth. The pear is likely to make a more rapid 
and vigorous growth than the apple. Consequently 
it is less liable to need cutting back in winter to ac- 
celerate its wood growth. 

Pears are grown as standards upon seedling pear 
roots or as dwarfs upon quince roots. Grown upon 
the pear root they reach normal or standard size. 
Grown upon the smaller quince they grow smaller, 
or become dwarf. The dwarf pears make a much 
slower and more stocky growth. They also come 
into bearing earlier. They are headed lower than 
the standards. In other respects than this the 
dwarfs and standards are shaped and pruned very 
much in the same manner. 

The dwarf pear, on account of its slower wood 
growth, earlier bearing habit and tendency to set 
more fruit in proportion to its size, is liable to be- 
come weakened by over production of fruit. Its wood 
growth may be stimulated by judicious pruning 
back in winter and by thinning out some of its sur- 
plus fruit spurs when they become too abundant for 
the safety ot the tree. Most standards make suffi- 
cient wood growth, so that it is not usually neces- 
sary to induce greater wood growth by such cutting 
back. 

Perhaps the most usual shape of the pear is to 
secure a straight, central trunk, or leader, around 
which are uniformly arranged the main limbs. In 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 25 

the beginning about five main limbs are usually al- 
lowed to form. Later other main limbs will be put 
out from the main trunk above. If forks form they 
should be corrected by cutting back one side of the 
fork as recommended for the apple. 

The greatest drawback to successful pear culture 
is the blight, a bacterial disease which prevails to 
a greater or less extent in most parts of the coun- 
try. This blight, called variously pear blight, fire 
blight, etc., usually appears in spring or early sum- 
mer ana is often quickly destructive. It sometimes 
causes the flowers and fruit spurs to die to such an 
extent that the season's crop of fruit is a failure. 
Sometimes the wood growth of the tree is largely 
destroyed for a year. In many cases the tree is 
killed or so extensively injured that it will never 
make a good tree. Pruning is done to some extent 
with reference to the blight. For this reason the 
most essential factor to consider in pruning is how 
may the operation oppose blight. 

It is generally believed that the germs of blieht 
enter the tree more readily in soft, succulent tissue, 
and that trees which are making a rank, sappy 
growth are more susceptible to the disease. This 
belief is emphasized by the fact that trees which are 
making slow growth in sod often escape serious in- 
jury from blight when rank-growing trees in culti- 
vated soil in the same neighborhood are badly in- 
jured or even killed by the disease. Pear orchards 
on very poor soil often escape blight when trees in 
rich soils in the same neighborhood succumb to the 
disease. On the same tree the rank growing twigs 
or water sprouts are usually attacked sooner than 
are the short, slow-growing branches. When at- 
tacked, the disease progresses usually more rapidly 
in the rank,* sappy limbs than it does in those which 
grow slowly. If a rank-growing limb begins to 



26 HINTS ON PRUNING 

blight the disease usually runs down through the 
vvx.ole new growth, killing the limb quickly back to 
where the wood is old and firm. If a slow-growing 
limb is attacked by the disease it not only pro- 
gresses more slowly, but the disease often finds the 
mature wood quite resistant of the disease, so it does 
not extend so far. Slower-growing trees are more 
liable to recover from the blight and to repair any 
damage done as soon as the next year's growth has 
time to assert itself. 

In view of the above the better pear growers usu- 
ally prune with the idea of avoiding any unnecessary 
rank growth. They are careful not to prune away 
enough in winter to induce rank sappy growth the 
following spring. They aim to avoid pruning too 
much at one time. Some of them do most of the 
pruning in summer, just after the blight season, 
which is usually early in the year. 

Practically the only preventive of blight is to re- 
move the blighted parts as soon as they appear and 
to cut out in early spring any blight pockets which 
have passed the winter in the wood of the tree. In 
most pear orchards the greater part of the pruning 
which is done consists of cutting out the blight. 
Whenever blight is observed it is best to cut out and 
burn the blighted wood. The cut should be made 
six or eight inches below where the blight shows, so 
as to be sure to get below the seat of the disease. 
It is best to disinfect the knife with carbolic acid or 
formalin after each cut is made, to avoid the possi- 
bility of inoculating the limbs with germs of blight 
that may cling to the knife blade. To disinfect the 
blade it should simply be wiped with a sponge 
soaked in carbolic acid or formalin after each cut. 

The most important time to take precaution 
against blight, as shown by Mr. Waite of the De- 
partment of Agriculture, is to cut out the winter 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 27 

pockets of the disease in late winter or early 
spring. In most of the twigs which blight in sum- 
mer the disease runs down to where the wood is 
resistant and then stops. The germs of the disease 
generally die in this branch. For that reason most 
ot the blighted twigs have no living germs of the 
disease when the tree goes into winter condition. 
Here and there, however, the disease continues to 
grow slowly in the wood until cold weather, winters 
over in a dormant condition, and oegins to spread 
again the following spring. If these few pockets of 
winter blight can be cut out before the tree begins 
growth in spring the chief source of infection from 
the disease may be gotten rid of before the disease 
can infect the tree in its flowers and new growth. 

it is usually quite easy for the practiced eye to 
discern these winter pockets of blight. If a blighted 
twig shows a definite line of demarkation where 
blighted wood leaves off and healthy wood begins it 
is safe to consider that all germs of the disease are 
dead at that point. If there is no such line of de- 
marcation, but if blighted wood blends so gradually 
into healthy wood that no one can draw a line where 
one leaves off and the other begins it is likely that 
living blight is passmg the winter at that point. 
Sometimes blight pockets winter over in the main 
limbs. Usually its presence may be observed by 
the fact that the bark over such an area looks 
turgid and darker-colored than the normal. Where 
the bark shows a purplish color and looks swelled, 
as if the sap were trying to burst through, there is 
usually blight beneath. 

if this winter bUght is allowed to remain in the 
tree, exudations of a honey-like consistency will 
burst out just before or during the blossoming sea- 
son. These exudations flow out in considerable 
quantity, as a rule. The exudation contains the 



28 HINTS ON PRUNING 

germs of the disease. Insects feed upon these 
exudations and carry the germs of the disease to 
the flowers and new growth on the trees, as soon as 
growth begins. 

In order to prevent such infection the gro.ver 
should go over his orchard in early spring just be- 
fore growth begins, and on until the blossoming 
season and look for winter pockets of blight. All 
possible of such pockets should be cut out and 
burned before the exudations begin to flow. If any 
are missed they can ea'iily be seen as soon as the 
exudations begin to flow out. If these can be got- 
ten rid of before the blossoms open there will be* 
little danger of blight, unless it is brought in from 
orchards where winter blight is not cut out. The 
growers of a neighborhood should be encouraged 
to cut out winter blight to avoid infection of their 
own trees and the trees of, their neighbors. 

Where tHe blight winters over in a small twig it 
is easy to cut it away and get rid of the source of 
infection. Where blight pockets winter over in 
the trunk of the tree or in large limbs the problem 
is more severe. It may be necessary in such cases 
to chisel out the blighted areas and paint the 
wounds with white lead and oil paint. Wherever 
such areas are chiseled out the grower should ex- 
amine them frequently to see if any exudations come 
out around their borders, where blight has been 
missed in chiseling out the diseased part. 

PRUNING THE PEACH. 
Among our cultivated fruits the peach is the 
one which usually receives the least pruning or gen- 
eral attention, yet it is the one which needs the 
most pruning. Its strong, thrifty growth, its man- 
ner of fruiting make it necessary for best results to 
remove a large amount of wood each year, and 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 29 

Upon trees most carefully pruned are borne fruit 
ot the finest quality. In all of the operations of 
pruning fruit trees it is necessary that the pruner 
should know where the fruit buds are located and 
their condition at the time of pruning. The ignor- 
ance of this could easily lead to the removal of all 
fruit buds and leave the otherwise productive tree 
perfectly barren for one or more seasons. And a 
knowledge of the condition of the fruit buds at the 
time of pruning will allow one to judge better as 
to the system of pruning. In the peach this is es- 
sential information to have. When there is good 
prospect for a full crop of peaches, the operation 
ot thinning can be partially done by pruning. When 
sll fruit buds are killed, advantage of this can be 
taken to get the head of straggling trees lower and 
more compact, by removing a large portion of the 
top. Let us look at a peach tree as it comes int(J 
bloom and see where the flowers occur. 

Our tree, we find, has the long slender twigs 
which formed last season covered with the deli- 
cate pink flowers. As a rule there are two flowers 
at each joint on the twigs, and they appear at al- 
most every joint from the base of the twig to thd 
very tip. Even the side branches have their share 
of flowers, and the little slender whips that formed 
last season in the center of the tree are also cov- 
ered with blooms. The two flowers at each joint 
on the twigs, we find, are separated by a small bud 
that is showing a tip pf a small green leaf. If we 
had looked at the twigs before the flowers opened 
we would have found three buds at almost every 
joint. The central bud is small, and much com- 
pressed by the large plump bud on each side of it. 
This central bud is a leaf bud, and as soon as 
growth starts will push out a cluster of leaves, or a 
new branch. The large plump buds on either side 



30 HINTS ON PRUNING 

of the leaf bud, encloses a single flower, some- 
times two, and from the great number of flowers on 
the tree, a great struggle for existence must take 
place between the fruit as it grows and approaches 
maturity. If all of the fl6wers on a tree in full 
bloom are left many will fail to set fruit, because of 
the inability of the tree to supply all with the prop- 
er amount of sap. Many will set fruit, but of these 
fruits many will fall to the ground before reaching 
maturity for the same reason. And when the 
fruit ripens there is only a small number of fruits 
compared to the great number of flowers which 
were on the tree, yet the tree may be breaking down 
with its load of truit. To avoid this breaking down 
of loaded trees, to thin the fruit and lessen the 
struggle among each individual fruit for sap from 
the tree, and to maintain a properly shaped head on 
the tree, so that in future years a heavy crop of 
fruit will be produced, it is necessary for us to 
prune the trees. Every year the peach trees need 
some pruning, and during the early life of the trees, 
this pruning may be very severe. Let us now take 
up this matter of pruning, starting with the tree as 
it is dug in the nursery and made ready to set in 
the orchard or garden. 

Small or medium sized one-year-old peach trees 
are the best for general orchard planting, while 
the larger trees are very good, where only a few 
trees are wanted in the home orchard or garden. 
As these one-year-old trees ^re due; in the nursery, 
they have a straight central stem, with side 
branches at frequent intervals, close to the ground 
to near the tip. These side branches bear numer- 
ous buds located at short intervals from the base to 
the very tip. When growth begins, each of these 
buds will open and send out a new branch. Those 
close to the base will be shaded by the leaves on 




Fig. 1. Fier. 2. 

1- ig-. 1 — One-year-old peach tree ready to set in or- 
chard, before pruning. ^ . . 

Fig. 2 — One-year-old p«ach tree after pruning at 
the time of setting in orchard. 



HINTS ON PRUNING 



the outermost ones till they perish, while those, 
close to the tip, where full sunlight can be had, will 
develop long branches. If a young peach tree is 
allowed to go without pruning, at the end of the sec- 
ond year its branches will be very long and slender 
and give the tree such shape that it is in danger 
of being broken to pieces upon the production of its 
first crop of fruit. To avoid that injury, to get a 
dense close head, close to the ground, the young 
tree when it is made ready to be set in its posi- 
tion in the orchard must be pruned. The customary 
way of doing this is to remove all of the side 
branches back to the first bud from the central 
stem, and cut back the tip of the trunk which is 
leit fully one-third. This leaves a mere stick with 
a tuft of roots at the lower end. Some of these, 
roots will be more or less mutilated or broken. 
Cut the broken roots off just behind the break, 
making a clean, smooth cut that can heal over 
quickly. Any roots that are unusually long, should 
be shortened in to a convenient length. A gener- 
ous amount of roots ought to be left, since it is 
through the roots that the tree gets its water and 
food, and plenty of roots will enable the tree to take 
hold of the soil and start into growth better than 
where only a small root system is left. If the 
rootlets have dried out in shipping, they should be 
cut back to where they are alive. In some parts of 
the country it is the practice to cut the roots back as 
severely as the top, making the tree when ready 
for planting nothing more than a club. The tree is 
then planted in a hole made with a crow-bar. That 
system, while it has many advantages, and may 
prove a success in some parts of the country, does 
not give satisfaction in Missouri and the surround- 
ing states. Our trees must have at least a small 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 33 

amount of the root system left in order to start the 
tree into growth. 

The new growth on a peach tree is produced prin- 
cipally at the extremities of the wood formed dur- 
ing the past season. If the trees are allowed to 
grow at will, it is only a matter of a few years 
till all of the fruiting wood is far removed from 
the trunk of the tree. From the long, straggling 
branches thus formed it is difficult to pick the 
fruit and there is danger of the trees being ruined 
for future production, through their splitting and 
breaking under a heavy load of fruit. 

PRUNING AFTER THE FIRST SEASON'S 
GROWTH. 

To get the head closer to the ground, to control 
the amount of fruiting wood formed, and to maintain 
the correct shape of the tree, proper pruning must 
be done each season after the tree is set in the 
orchard. After the first season's growth of the 
young tree, pruned as above, it will be found that 
each of the short stubs bearing a bud has sent out 
a strong branch. During the early spring of the 
next season cut uack this new growth severely. The 
side branches should be shortened in such man- 
ner as to give the pruned tree a distinctly pyramidal 
shape. This can be done by cutting the lowermost 
branches to a length of five or ten inches, depend- 
ing on their original length, ana cutting the next 
branches above still shorter. Remove from the 
central stem about half of its length, leaving it 
about a foot longer than the upper branches. At 
the next pruning, after the young trees have made 
two seesons' growth in the orchard, the same prin- 
ciple must be followed. Severe pruning needs to be 
given the young trees, making them take on a^. 
much of a cone-shaped habit as possible. During 



34 HINTS ON PRUNING 

this second season many lateral branches will have 
formed on the main branches. Shorten these into 
two or three buds, and remove any which are 
weak or aead, cutting close to the main limb on 
which they are borne. Maintain a central leader in 
the tree; leave the lower branches longer than 
those above them, so as to give the tree a cone- 
shaped head. 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 35 

PRUNING THE BEARING TREE. 

.After three seasons' growth the trees will have 

probably made a good setting of fruit buds, and the 

subsequent pruning must be done in such manner 

as to thin the fruit and maintain a correct shaoe in 




Fig. C. 
Peach tree of bearing age, before pruninj 



36 



HINTS ON PRUNING 



the head, avoiding as much as nossible long strag- 
gling branches. Since the peach always sets many 
more fruits than it can bring to maturity, even i-t 
the most favorable season, the removal of some of 
the fruiting wood during the work of pruning 




Fig-. D. 
Peach tree, same as C, pruned by cutting- back and 
thinning out surplus t-wigs. Correct pruning under 
normal conditions. 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 37 

makes the remaining fruit all the larger and better 
flavored. The amount of wood which may be 
removed depends much on the experience of the 
grower and the condition of the fruit Duds at the 
time of pruning. In cases where the fruit buds have 
all been killed more wood may be removed than 
where a full crop is promised. In general, where 
the fruit buds are in good condition, remove at least 
one-half of the central leader on the branches and 
shorten in the lateral branches in proportion. Al- 
though much wood will be removed in doing this, 
many fruit buds will be left and as many fruits form 
as the trees can mature. In fact it is often neces- 
sary to thin the fruit still more by thinning by 
hand later in the season. 



PRUNING WHEN ALL THE FRUIT BUDS 
ARE KILLED. 

In cases where the fruit buds are all killed by frost 
the manner of pruning may be somewhat different 
from that just given. The way by which one car« 
tell whether fruit buds are dead or alive is by cut- 
ting them in two in the middle a few days after a 
freeze or frost which is suspected of having Caused 
injury. If the buds are dead the interior of the 
buds will be dark colored. If examined within a day 
or so after a frost the buds may not have had time 
to become dark colored, but the frozen or dead 
buds will have a water-soaked appearance. Some 
fruit buds die everv year, and in making an examin- 
ation of the buds several buds on a tree should be 
cut open in order to get a correct estimate of thq 
number lost. The live buds, when cut open, instead 
of having a darkened interior, will be of a bright 
greenish cast and be more soUd to cut through than 
those which are dead. 



38 HINTS ON PRUNING 

After a careful examination of the peach trees, if 
it is found that all of the buds are dead, advantage 
may be taken of this failure in a crop to 
get the trees headed lower and of a better 
shape. When several crops are borne in suc- 
cession the trees will have become quite 
straggling in habit, even under the best system of 
pruning. To get them back, closer to the ground* 
the main limbs must be cut short so as to leaver 
only short stubs or spurs. The wood which formed 
last season is removed so that only six or eight 
inches of the base is left. All of the smaller twigs 
are cut out, and anv bad forks in the higher por- 
tion of the head are corrected by removing or short- 
ening one side of the fork. Where several branches 
come out close together the weaker ones should 
be removed and nothing but strong, vigorous 
branches left. Pruning in this fashion will remove 
the larger part of the wood formed during the last 
season, but from the spurs which are left there will 
spring many new branches to bear fruit on the fol- 
lowing year, and the tree will be in better shape to 
carry a heavy load of fruit after this severe pruning. 

It sometimes happens that not only the fruit buds 
on a tree are killed but the wood is badly injured 
by extremely cold weather of winter. Such injury 
can be told by the discolored appearance of the 
wood upon cutting through the bark. When such is 
the case the method of pruning must be even more 
severe than when the buds only are killed. 

PRUNING AFTER WINTER INJURY. 
It sometimes happens that it is necessary to cut 
a tree back so as to leave nothing but stubs of the 
large limbs, cutting off all the limbs smaller than 
a man's arm. Cutting back into wood two to four 
seasons old, or at least into wood which has a clean. 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 



39 



smooth bark will put the trees into better condition 
than if the winter-killed wood is all left. This wood 
which is left will send out new branches from buds 




Peach tree, same as C, closely primod aftei' severe 
^^inter injury. 

that have heretofore remained dormant, and the 
trees thus acquire an entirely new head as the re- 
sult of the treatment. Good judgment is needed to 



40 HINTS ON PRUNING 

tell just how far to cut back frozen trees in order 
to renew the top. It depends somewhat upon the 
ac^e and vigor of the tree and also upon the extent 
of the injury. It is not possible to lay down any 
rule that will apply to ail cases. It will be well to 
bear in mind the following suggestions. Cutting- 
back may be so severe that the remaining stumps 
will not sprout and the tree will die. The old stumps 
may have no active buds to push into growth. The 
older the wood the more difficulty there is in tho 
tree sending out new branches and the more slowly 
it will start in spring, while the newer the wood the 
more quickly it will push out into growth. This 
method of heading in peach trees is practiced by 
many extensive peach growers every few years, sim- 
ply to renew the vigor of the trees. In this way- 
strong wood growth can be promoted and the head 
of the tree kept closer to the ground, where it 
mav be more readilv managed. The lower heads 
are more easily nruned and sprayed and the fruit 
can be thinned and gathered at a smaller expense 
than on trees with high tops. Where the trees are 
cut back in this fashion in years when the wood 
is not frozen, there will form a very rank new\ 
growth, which will continue growing till frost kills 
the tips. To avoid this several long branches 
should be left at convenient places over the tree 
to use up much of the surplus energy of the tree. 
Sap will be forced into these long branches and 
used in the formation of wood on them, and the 
growth of the new shoots from the older portion of 
the tree will not be so rank nor continue into growth 
so late. These extra limbs can be shortened in the 
next season so as to maintain the proper head on 
the trees. 

Upon the new growth formed the next season 
after severe cutting like this there may be a short 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 41 

crop of fruit, but the new head formed will be 
much more fruitful in following years than on trees 
which were not cut back at all or given only moder- 
ate pruning. 

PRUNING THE PLUM. 

The Japanese plum has much the same habit of 
growth as the peach. It thrives in much the same 
conditions as respect to soil and management. It 
should be pruned about the same as the peach, 
though perhaps not quite so severely. The direc- 
tions given for pruning the peach will in the main 
apply with equal force to the Japanese plum. Even 
the long whips of new growth at the terminals often 
produce fruit buds the same as in the case of the 
peach and fruit buds will e^enerally be produced in 
sufficient abundance if the trees are cut back enough 
in winter to induce a good vigorous wood growth 
the following year. This cutting back also helps to 
thin the fruit which sets in superfluous abundance 
as a rule. 

The European plums and native American plums 
are pruned much the same as the pear and the ap- 
ple. They are usually given a straight, central trunk, 
or leader, and headed low. The branches are kept 
from becoming too dense by thinning judiciously 
while they are young. Any limbs which cross, rub 
or crowd each other are relieved by removing the 
branch which is most in the way. Pruning should 
never be severe at any one time, as it may result in 
water sprouts or even in suckers from the root. 
The vigor of growth may be regulated to some ex- 
tent by the amount of pruning back which is done in 
wmter. If wood growth is so luxuriant ss to oppose 
fruitfulness, the long whips of new growth may be 
shortened somewhat, which will result in the forma- 
tion of short laterals which will later bear fruit. 



42 HINTS ON PRUNING 

PRUNING THE QUINCE. 

The quince is a small tree which makes naturally 
a straggling growth which it is difficult to prune 
so as to get a good-shaped tree. In fact, very little 
pruning is given it, as a rule. If neglected, how- 
ever, it is liable to make many sprouts or water 
shoots from below and get too thick and tangled to 
be easily managed. Some pruning should be given 
it. 

The quince should be headed low. It is small in 
habit and usually headed as low as will enable the 
grower to secure a definite trunk. Pruning consists 
of thinning out surplus limbs so as to maintain a 
manageable tree. It should not be pruned back 
enough to induce a very rank growth. Any limbs 
which cross or rub badly should be removed. It 
should also be kept symmetrical by shortening any 
long straggling limbs which tend to outgrow the 
others. Just enough prunmg of this character is 
done to enable the grower to get at the fruit with 
convenience and to enable the fruit to get enough 
sun and air to mature v/ell. 

If the tree makes long limbs which are rank it is 
sometimes advisable to shorten these sufficiently to 
induce them to make branches for fruiting and to 
secure a stockier growth of the tree. • Shortening 
the long whips of growth judiciously usually induces 
the formation of laterals which will produce fruit 
buds at their tips. 

In pruning the quince it should be remembered 
that it is subject to fire-blight to about the same^ 
extent as the pear. The same precautions which 
apply to pruning the pear to oppose blight will also 
apply to the quince. 



FKUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 43 

PRUNING THE CHERRY. 

Generally speaking the cherry should be pruned 
less severely than most of our other orchard fruits. 
It makes new growth most readily from its terminal 
buds. Often the buds on the older wood are so in- 
active and dormant that they do not start readily 
into growth if the wood is cut back much. In this 
respect it is very different from the peach, which 
will start new growth readily from wood several 
years old. 

Either one-year-old or two-year-old cherry trees 
are selected for planting out in the orchard. The 
trees are usually well headed as they come from the 
nursery. They are headed somewhat low, say from 
eighteen inches to three feet from the ground. At 
the time of planting in the orchard the trees are 
not cut back much. The active buds on the cherry 
are for the most part near the tips of the new 
growth. Toward the top of the main stem and at the 
terminals of the main branches there are a few 
large, fresh looking, active buds. These are ca- 
pable of starting into active growth after the trees 
are set out. If the main branches are cut back 
much most or all of these active buds may be re- 
moved. If there are only a few such large active^ 
buds on each branch, the tree should not be cut 
back at all. If there are a half dozen or more on 
each branch the branches may be shortened so as 
to remove a few of the buds near the terminals. At 
most, however, the limbs of the cherry should not 
be shortened more than a few inches. If the limbs 
are abundant, and the root system so small that cut- 
ing back becomes necessary to avoid evaporation, 
it is ufually better to thin out some of the limbs en- 
tirely than to cut the others back. What limbs are 
left on the tree should contain good active buds at 
their tips. 



44 HINTS ON PRUNING 

In pruning the cherry subsequently it is well to 
remove as little wood as possible. Just enough cut- 
ting should be done to keep the tree symmetrical 
and to remove limbs which are crowding other parts 
of the tree. If a limb is to be removed it is well to 
cut it out while it is young. Old limbs should not 
be removed where it can possibly be avoided. Where 
old limbs are removed gum is likely to exude from 
the wound. The wounds on cherrv trees do not heal 
so readily as they do on most other fruit trees. 

Much of the shaping of cherry trees may be done 
by pinching out surplus shoots while they are grow- 
ing. If the twigs start to form an undesirable fork 
for example, it is often desirable to correct this fork 
by pinching back one of the shoots before it has 
made much growth. After the cherry tree reaches 
bearing age very little pruning will be necessary, 
except to remove any deao or diseased branches. 

PRUNING THE GRAPE. 

The grape is pruned more severely than any 
other of our fruit bearing plants. It has a tendency 
to produce a very rank growth and make so much 
wood that the vine could not possibly support well 
the fruit that would form if the vine is not greatly 
reduced by severe pruning. The grape is pruned 
every year and the pruning may be reduced to a 
more systematic and exact form than can the prun- 
ing of our orchard trees. 

In pruning the grape it is well to consider first 
the formation of the vine from the beginning. The 
vine is ujjually set in the vineyard when it is one. 
or two years old. At that time it is best to cut it 
back so as to leave only about two buds on each of 
the one or two canes which the vine bore. This 
means cutting it back close to the ground, or so 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 45 

only a few inches of new growth of stem is left. 
The roots also may be shortened somewhat for con- 
venience in planting. 

The following season new shoots will form from 
the few buds that were left. Generally three or four 
shoots will be produced. These should be allowed 
to grow about at will on the ground. The first win- 
ter after planting in the vineyard these shoots should 
again be pruned. The pruning now will depend upon 
the system of training which is to be used. 

There are two systems of training which are im- 
portant enough to deserve mention here. They are 
the upright and the drooping systems. In the up- 
right system a short stem is given the vine and the 
fruiting wood is trained upward on the trellis from 
this stem. In the drooping system a longer stem is 
used which reaches the top of the trellis and the fruit- 
bearing shoots hang down. It will be observed that 
these two methods are opposed to each other in 
that in the former the fruiting shoots are supported 
in an upright position by the trellis, while in the 
latter the trellis supports the main stem and the 
fruiting shoots are allowed to hang down. Each of 
these systems has its modifications. Before discuss- 
ing their comparative merits it may be well to out- 
line the method of pruning by each system. 

In the upright system a plain trellis of three or 
four wires is usually employed to support the vines. 
Posts are set in a straight line at necessary intervals 
along the row of vines to support the wires. The 
two end posts of each trellis are braced strongly, so 
the weight of vines on the trellis and the sagging of 
the vines will not cause the posts to tip in the 
ground. The posts should be about five or six feet 
high after they are set in the ground. The lowett 
wire of the trellis is stretched along these posts 
and fastened to them about eighteen inches above 



46 HINTS ON PRUNING 

the ground. The two or three remaining wires are 
stretched and fastened to the posts at intervals of 
about one foot apart above the lower wire. These 
wires, ranged in this manner, one above another, 
form the support for the vines. 

The old stem of each vine does not usually extend 
above the lower wire of the trellis and sometimes 
it is kept back to a very short stump. This short 
stem, or stump, produces the new growth of the vine 
which grows up and is trained to the wires above. 
No matter how old the vine may be the wood above 
the old stem is frequently renewed, by pruning back, 
£0 the branches which cover the wires of the trellis 
are never more than two years old. 

In order better to understand what is meant by 
statements made concerning pruning the vine it is 
well for us to understand, not only how the trellis is 
formed, but also to give technical names to the 
branches of the vine which are of different ages. A 
new branch which starts in spring and grows during 
the summer is called a shoot. After it has shed 
its leaves in autumn and become dormant it is called 
a cane, during the first winter of its age. After 
growth begins next spring, so the winter cane is 
more than one year old, it becomes an arm. The 
still older part of the vine, above the root system, 
and from which shoots, canes and arms may be pro- 
duced, is called the main stem or stump of the vine. 
To restate, a shoot is a new branch from the time 
it starts from a bud in spring, until it sheds its leaves 
in the fall. It is a growing summer branch. A. 
cane is a dormant branch, during the first v/inter 
of its existence, and up to the time it begins growth 
the following spring. An arm is a branch which is 
more than one year old. 

The fruit is produced on shoots which start in 
spring from the buds of a cane which has just 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 47 

passed its first winter. The best truiting canes are 
those which are attached to wood only one year 
older than themselves. That is, of two winter canes, 
one of which comes from a dormant bud on the old 
stem, or from the root of the vine, and the other 
of which comes from a branch only one year older 
than itself, the latter should be preferred in selecting 
canes to bear the following crop of fruit. 

In pruning during winter or early spring each vine 
should be reduced to two fruiting canes v/hich are 
attached to wood only one year older than them- 
selves. These canes should be shortened to four or 
five feet in length, according to the strength of the 
vine and the amount of fruit which it Is considered 
able to carry. In addition to these two fruitingi 
canes, two other strong canes should be sefected 
(preferably from below the two fruiting canes), and 
cut back to short spurs, containing about three buds 
each. The three buds on each of these spurs are 
designed to produce shoots during ihe spring and 
summer which v/ill be saved as fruiting canes when 
pruning is done the following winte~. All the rest 
of the newer parts of the vine, above the old stem, 
including the parts of the vine which have produced 
the summer's crop of fruit, together with all surplus 
canes. ?.re cut away. 

The winter pruning reduces the vine to two fruit- 
ing canes, about four feet long, which are to produce 
the coming fruit crop, and two short spurs which are 
to produce the wood which is to be selected for the 
subsequent season's crop of fruit. Ths same branch 
is never allowed to produce but a smc!;le crop of 
fruit, but is cut away during the whiter following 
the production of its fruit crop. The .lim in winter 
pruning is to provide for the coming fruit and for 
renewing wood for the subsequent year's crop — in 



48 HINTS ON PRUNING 

other words to secure fruit for the coming spring 
and fruiting wood for the next spring afterward. 

In some cases it will be found that these fruiting 
canes, when being pruned in winter, have side 
branches which pushed out while growth was going 
on in summer. In case they have side branches 
these should be pruned off. If they are weak 
branches they should be cut close to the main cane. 
If any of the side branches are strong they should 
be cut back so as to leave a single joint attached to 
the main cane. Many growers claim that better 
fruit is produced on a shoot that comes from the 
basal bud of one of these side branches than from a 
bud on the main cane itself. For this reason some 
growers attempt in summer training to induce the 
branches which are to become fruiting canes to inake 
side branches freely during summer. This will be 
further discussed under summer training. 

In selecting the two fruiting canes at the time of 
winter pruning the grower should be able to distin- 
guish between those which are likely to produce the 
best fruit and those which are less well suited for 
fruiting purposes. In other words he should be able 
to recognize the difference betv/een canes which 
have fruiting buds — buds which will produce shoots 
which will fruit freely and canes which, like water 
sprouts, will not fruit well. In most vines there 
will be canes enough so the pruner will have choice 
in this matter. 

The best fruiting canes are those which have 
short nodes, or joints, and which have large, firm, 
well developed buds. They may not necessarily be 
the largest canes or the longest. They should be 
firm and well ripened and the closer together their 
buds are the better. Their bark should be bright, 
fresh and firm, never bleached. Usually they are 
crooked at the joints, giving them a zigzag appear- 



FKUIT-GKOWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 49 

ance. This zigzag form means something. It is 
due to the fact that the more fully the bud at each 
node is developed and the more stored food there 
is in the joint the more the growth which forms 
below the next bud above is pushed to one side, thus 
forming a wide angle at each joint. The very filling 
up of the bud and joint tips the cane to one side 
above the joint, or pushes it away from the bud. 
If a cane has well-developed side branches it should 
be preferred, other things being equal. The devel- 
opment of short, stocky side branches indicates a 
strong cane. 

Opposed to such cane is the rank growing water 
sprout. The water sprout may be larger, longer, 
and at first sight better looking to the casual observ- 
er, than the better matured and ripened cane. The 
water sprout has longer joints, that is a longer space 
between its buds. Such a cane is straighter, with 
hardly a suggestion of an angle or crook at the 
joints. Its buds may look large but they are looser 
and less well developed. Often such a cane is flat- 
tened at the joint instead of being full, round and 
plump. Often, especially near its outer length, it is 
more or less shriveled and the bark bleached and 
lighter colored. It put most of its food and energy 
into making length growth instead of filling itself 
up and maturing well. Such a cane should not be 
used for fruiting. 

In cutting back canes for spurs those which are 
below the fruiting canes and which are vigoroua 
and healthy should be selected. It is not necessary 
that they be attached to wood only one year older 
than themselves. They may come from the old 
stem or even from near the roots of the vine. It 
is desirable that they be selected from below thct 
fruiting canes so that in pruning their growth for 
fruit next year all the older wood which has fruited 



60 HINTS ON PRUNING 

may be cut off above them. Since they are selected 
from new canes their shoots, which are to become 
the fruiting canes for the subsequent year, will be 
attached to wood only one year older than them- 
selves. The fruiting canes of each winter then are 
those which were produced from the short spurs 
of the previous winter. 

After the vine has been pruned as described above, 
we may expect each bud on the fruiting canes to 
send out a shoot in spring. As each shoot reaches 
several joints in length flower clusters form at the 
joints near its base. Each joint may produce about 
two flower clusters (sometimes f&ur or five), and a 
corresponding number of bunches of fruit. At this 
time summer training, or summer pinching should 
begin. Let us see what it consists of. 

Summer training is for the purpose o! properly 
distributing the vine over the trellis as it grows dur- 
ing the summer. It consists of tying the new shoots 
to the wires in proper position and of regulating the 
wood growth by pinching back shoots that tend to 
grow too long, taking out surplus shoots and shap- 
ing the vine generally. Three especial points should 
be kept in mind: The fruit-bearing shoots should 
be pinched back at the right time, the longer shoots 
which are being produced from the spurs should be 
given necessary attention to produce fruiting wood 
for the subsequent year, any surplus sprouts should 
be pinched out so they will not crowd those shoots 
which remain. 

As has been mentioned each fruiting shoot will 
produce several clusters of fruit near its basal 
joints. If the vine is allowed to grow at will these 
fruit bearing shoots may continue to lengthen un- 
til they make too much wood growth. They may get 
so long and branch so much that the vine becomes 
too dense, shutting out sunlight so the fruit cannot 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 51 

mature well. They may even run along the trellis 
until they interfere with and tend to choke out ad- 
joining vines. This is especially true of rank-grow- 
ing varieties. If too much wood growth is allowed 
to form the vine may "run to wood" instead of prop- 
erly developing its fruit. In order to prevent too 
much wood growth it is best to pinch back each 
fruit-bearing shoot when it has reached about three 
joints beyond the outer flower cluster. This pinch- 
ing back will stop length growth of the shoot. As 
soon as length growth is stopped the shoot will be- 
come more stocky and better develop its fruit. Some 
of the shoots on the fruiting canes may fail to pro- 
duce flowers and fruit. These barren shoots may 
be pinched out if they are numerous enough to 
crowd those which are bearing fruit. The fruit-bear- 
ing shoots may be tied to the wires, for support, 
so they will not break down. They should be ar- 
ranged so they will not crowd each other. 

It is important to take good care of the shoots 
which come from the short spurs, for they are to be 
the bearing wood for the subsequent season. They 
are usually trained up near the center, between the 
fruiting canes, and tied to the wires for support. They 
should be trained where they will get sunlight and 
not be crowded by other parts of the vine. Their 
welfare is of as much importance as is the welfare 
of the fruiting shoots themselves, for they are to 
renew the vine next year. When they reach the 
top of the trellis their tips should be pinched off to 
stop their length growth. Sometimes they will be- 
gin to lengthen again and will need a second pinch- 
ing. Stopping their length growth makes them 
branch freely and become stocky and strong. They 
thicken faster and mature their wood better after 
length growth is stopped. By autumn they should 
be large and strong and for the most part well 



HINTS ON PRUNING 



branched. If they set any flower clusters these 
should be pinched off. They should not be allowed 
to bear fruit, since all their strength will be needed 
for the fruit crop the next year, 

A good many sprouts often start up from the roots 
of the vine. Surplus sprouts may start from almost 
any part of the old stem. All but two or three of 
these should be pinched off when it is seen in spring 
htat they will be in the way of the other parts of 
the vines. Some varieties sprout worse than others. 
If many sprouts are allowed to grow they will fill 
up the vine with too much wood growth and crowd 
and shade the fruit and the shoots which it is desired 
to save. The two sprouts that are saved are to be 
pruned as spurs the coming winter. 

Sometimes a vine fails to grow in just the form 
one desires and one is sometimes confronted with 
the problem of putting a vineyard in shape which 
has been neglected. In such cases the vines may 
have long, old stems, due to neglect, and most of the 
bearing wood may be far removed from the base 
of the vine. In such cases one must cut the vine 
back judiciously and take a season or two to get 
it in the form described above. In cutting back it is 
best to remove as much of the vine as is possible and 
still leave some fruiting wood. The two lowest 
canes should be selected for fruiting canes and all 
the vine above should be cut away. If one cannot 
get good spurs below the fruiting canes he may 
induce the formation of sprouts below by twisting, 
or bending to one side the main stem. Shoots will 
come out just below the crook made in the stem. 
By cutting back as much as possible each season 
one may soon get the new growth back to a point 
near the ground. Cutting back in winter induces 
ranker wood growth and more abundant sprouts 
near the ground. 



FHUIT- GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 53 

In the drooping system much the same plan of 
renewing the vine is practiced as in the upright sys- 
tem. The vine is allowed to make a longer stem, 
however, and the spurs and fruiting canes are borne 
near the top of the trellis instead of near the bot- 
tom of it. One method of employing the drooping 
system is to use the same kind of trellis described 
for the upright system. The vine is allowed to 
produce a permanent stem which will reach to the 
top wire of the trellis. The two fruiting canes 
are then tied along the top wire of the trellis after 
the winter pruning. The fruiting shoots which are 
nroduced from the canes in spring will then hang 
downward from their weight. Two spurs for re- 
newing the wood for the subsequent year are saved 
near the base of the fruiting canes. The method 
of pruning in winter is essentially the same as that 
already described for the upright system. The only 
difference is that in the drooping system the main 
stem of the vine is long enough so the fruiting canes 
and spurs are up near the top wire instead of down 
near the bottom wire. 

The summer training of the drooping system is 
similar to the upright system except that the fruiting 
shoots hang down instead of being tied in an up- 
right position on the trellis. The fruit-bearing shoots 
are pinched back when thev have reached about three 
joints beyond the last flower cluster. Sprouts which 
come from near the ground are kept pinched off in 
spring to maintain a bare stem up to the top wire. 
If for any reason this main stem ever becomes in- 
jured it may be renewed by allowing a sprout to 
grow up from the roots of the vine. 

Many growers who employ the drooping system of 
pruning prefer a different trellis from the one de- 
scribed above. Instead of having the wires run one 
above another on posts they prefer three wires, one 



54 HINTS ON PRUNING 

Strung along the row of vines, to which the fruit- 
ing canes are tied, and two wires, one on either side 
of the middle wire, supported by cross bars nailed 
to the tops of the posts. The posts are set so they 
will stand about four to six feet above the ground 
in the row. The cross bars are two and one-half 
to three feet long and fastened to the tops of the 
posts in a T shape. The central wire, to which thQ 
nruned canes are tied runs through the posts just 
below the cross bar. The other two wires are 
strung along the ends of the cross bars so they 
come twelve or eighteen inches on either side of 
the central wire and about six inches higher than 
the latter. 

As the fruit-bearing shoots are put out in spring 
from the canes tied to the central wire, they soon 
become long and heavy enough that they drop over 
the two side wires and hansr down. About half the 
shoots are turned to one side and the other half to 
the opposite side, so half of them swing over each 
side wire. This spreads out the surface of the vine 
in a trough shape, the canes and bases of the bear- 
mg shoots being close to the central wire and 
spreading outward on either side so they hang over 
the two side wires. The clusters of fruit are borne 
near the bases of the new shoots so they hang down 
between the central wire and the side wires. 

Certain other methods of training vines prevail 
in certain localities. In some instances special meth- 
ods are devised to suit local or unusual conditions. 
For example, the writer has observed a method of 
training vines to a single post, in the Ozark region 
of Missouri, which is just suited to the conditions 
which prevail in some of the stony districts. 

The method mentioned above is employed where 
the soil is so stony that hoeing weeds in the rows 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 55 

of plants is difficult. The stones, however, are 
mostly small, so cultivation with double shovel plows 
IS easily done. It becomes desirable then to culti- 
vate the vineyard both ways, in check rows, instead 
of only one way along the row. With this cultiva- 
tion among the small stones they can keep the vine- 
yard clean without hand hoeing. The grapes are 
set in squares, about ten feet apart each way, and 
each vine is trained to a single stake, set straight up 
at the base of the vine. This avoids the necessity of 
stringing wires and permits cultivation both ways. 

In selecting the stakes some of the knots are left 
one or two inches long to act as pegs in supporting 
the vine when it is trained about the post. The vine 
is pruned to a single fruiting cane in some cases 
and in other cases to two fruiting icanes. Each 
fruiting cane is bent outward and then toward the 
post at the top and tied there. The cane, described 
about the shape of an interrogation point (?), being 
tied to the post at the top of the curve and tied to it 
a second time eighteen inches lower down, where 
the tip of the cane is bent in to the post. The fruit- 
ing shoots hang down for the most part, though 
some of the lower ones are at times tied up to the 
lower part of the post or even to the curve of the 
main cane. 

The method of pruning in this single post training 
is essentiallv the same as that employed in the up- 
right system. A short stem or short stump of tht 
vine is allowed to grow year after year near the* 
ground. The fruiting canes and spurs are renewed 
each year at the top of this short stem. Wood 
which has once fruited is pruned entirely away each 
winter. 

Where the grape is grown to cover arbors or 
porches, where long branches are necessary to cover 
the top of the support, it may at times be necessary 



56 HINTS ON PRUNING 

to allow long arms to grow perennially. In such 
cases it is well to allow the main stem to grow as 
high as is necesary to cover the arbor or porch in 
question and to train out from this as many fruiting 
canes each year as the space will permit. It is ad- 
visable also to prune to one spur near the base of 
each fruiting cane, so as to renew the fruiting cane*, 
from this spur for the subsequent season. Thel 
pruning and the summer training is similar in prin- 
ciple, then, to the trellis methods described above. 
There is also a fan system of growing the vine 
which is sometimes employed. It is similar to the 
upright system first described. It differs from it 
only in that instead of leaving only two fruiting 
canes, from three to five canes are left at the time 
of winter pruning and a similar number of spurs for 
renewing the wood are also saved. The canes are 
spread out on the trellis like the ribs of a fan. One 
is trained straight upward from the center of the 
vine and the other canes are distributed equidistant 
on either side of this central cane. 

PRUNING BUSH FRUITS. 
THE RED RASPBERRY. 

The wood of the red raspberry is biennial, that is, 
it erows up from the root as a long shoot or cane, 
and bears fruit on these canes the next season. 
The method of pruning is somewhat at variance 
among the different growers and in different parts 
of the country. Some growers practice summer 
pruning, in which the canes are pinched back to 
force out lateral branches, others allow the young 
canes to grow at will during the first season and 
cut back only during the winter. 

Individually the growers all over the country 
are coming to doubt the advisability of the summer 
pruning of the red raspberries. Pinching back in 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 57 

summer seems to have the tendency of increasing 
the number of Euckers thrown up from the roots. 
This overproduction of wood lessens the ability of 
the plants to produce fruit. The shortening of the 
leaders in early summer does not lead to the forma- 
tion of stronp; vigorous side branches, but to weak 
branches which are subject to winter-killing. These 
side branches which are forced into the production 
of wood in early summer had best be allowed to re- 
main dormant until the following spring when they 
will form good fruiting branches. 

The experience of a large number of growers is 
that it is best to allow the red raspberry plantation to 
grow at will during the summer, and then during 
the winter or early sprmg cut all fruiting canes 
back to three, or in case of low-growing forms, to 
two feet of the ground. All old canes that bore 
iruit the previous season should be removed at the 
ground at this time, as they are probably already 
dead, or if not will die before growth begins. Where 
the truiting canes are treated in this way they will 
throve out a large number of strong lateral branches 
in the spring which will produce all of the fruit that 
one cane ought to carry. 

The only exception to the advisability of practic- 
ing summer pruning might be made in the case of 
very vigorous plantations, or especially rampant 
varieties. Whenever summer pruning is done it 
should be remembered that only the tender young 
tips should be pinched off with the thumb and 
imger at a height of about eighteen inches from 
the ground. This will allow the lower buds to pro- 
duce branches that can make their growth early 
in the season and become well ripened before win- 
ter. Summer pruning of the red raspberries is 
never practiced on the same scale that it is on the 
black varieties. 



58 HINTS ON PRUNING 

PRUNING BLACK RASPBERRIES. 
Like the red raspberry the black raspberrv has bi- 
ennial wood and renews its cane from the roots. 
But instead of these new canes coming from suck- 
ers or stolons, they come from the base of the 
parent plant, as the black raspberry is essentially a 
hill or stool plant. New plants arise from roots 
formed at the tips of the branches when allowed 
to come in contact with the earth. With the black 
raspberry it always requires a great deal of careful 
summer pruning or pinching to make the canes 
stocky, and with a generous number of well-formed 
side branches. To force the black raspberries into 
the production of side branches, the new canes as 
they appear in the summer should have the tender 
young tips pinched out when the cane reaches a 
height of eighteen inches from the soil. The side 
branches will then be produced, and make a 
growth of several feet during the season. These 
branches as soon as they grow long enough to 
touch the ground, should be trained along the row 
where they will not be interfered with during culti- 
vation, and where they may take root for the produc- 
tion of new plants. The black raspberry canes should 
never be allowed to get too high before pinching, 
and it is necessary to go over the rows several 
times during the summer and pinch the tips at the 
right time. Then plenty of side branches will be 
formed, strong canes will result, and the plants 
be in good shape to stand up well and produce a 
large crop of fruit. Clipping the laterals after thev 
have grown to twelve or fifteen inches to make them 
branch again, has been recommended, but there is 
little if any advantage in it. It is only an addition- 
al expense and results in the production of a mass 
of small and poorly developed laterals, many of 
which will be winter-killed. 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 59 

During the winter or early spring, the general 
pruning of the plants must be done. In this opera- 
tion all old canes, which bore a fruit crop the last 
season are to be cut close to the ground. All canes 
that are affected with anthracnose are likewise cut 
out and burned, leaving nothing in the rows but 
strong, well-developed new canes. These, if they 
were well pinched the last season, have branched 
well and resemble small trees. The laterals on these 
new canes are cut off so that the lowermost 
branches are twelve or eighteen inches long, those 
next above being shortened in slightly more, so 
that the canes after being pruned are pyramidal in 
outline. The side branches which had taken root at 
their tips, should be cut off just above the point 
where they are attached to the soil. This will leave 
a new plant to take the place of some old one 
that may be cut out entirely, or else make a new 
plant to be used in increasing the size of the planta- 
tion. 

After pruning gather up all of the wood removed 
and burn it, being ezpecially careful to cut out and 
burn all canes having anthracnose. 

PRUNING THE BLACKBERRY. 

The blackberry resembles the red raspberry in 
habit of growth. The new wood comes from suck- 
ers and does not produce fruit until the second sea- 
son, dying at the end of the season in which it 
produced a crop of fruit. As in the case of the 
black raspberry, summer pinching or pruning must 
be done. This work is practically the same as with 
the black raspberry, pinching out the tender young 
tip of the canes after reaching the height of about 
two feet, depending on the vigor of the variety. 
Some of the stronger-growing sorts need to be al 
lowed to grow two feet high before being pinched, 



60 HINTS ON PRUNING 

and all sorts will elongate considerably after being 
pinched back. The pinching-in is necessary to get 
a well branched cane, that will produce a good crop 
of fruit the following season, and it should be done 
by pinching out, with the fingers only, the tender 
young tip of the new cane. By allowing the canes to 
become four or five feet high and then cutting back 
to the desired height, side branches will not form 
so readily, and are not so fruitful, as if the tips are 
pinched earlier in the season. 

The winter pruning of the blackberry is done in 
the same way as with the raspberries. Cut out all 
of the canes which have fruited. Leave nothing 
but strong young canes which will fruit the next 
season. Cut back the side branches to a foot or 
less in length, leaving the pruned cane somewhat 
pyramidal, or cone-shaped in outline. 

PRUNING THE CURRANT. 

Since the currant will usually produce some fruit 
no matter how treated, it frequently happens that no 
pruning at all is the case. The fruit is borne both 
on old and young wood, but principally at the base 
of the one-year-old shoots and on short-one-year-old 
spurs from the older wood. The old wood soon be- 
comes weak and unproductive, while the younger 
wood produces the better fruit. The better plan, 
then, is to allow several young canes to form around 
the base of the plant each year, and at the pruning, 
which is best done in the early spring, remove all of 
the canes which are three years old. Shorten the 
more vigorous young shoots on the .canes remaining. 
Sometimes the pinching-in of new shoots from the 
ground is practiced, making side branches form on 
the canes, but the method does not give universal! 
satisfaction. In common practice, a liberal amount 



FKUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 61 

ot thinning out of old wood and shortening of the 
longer side branches is all that will be required. 

PRUNING THE GOOSEBERRY. 

This plant in habit of growth and fruiting charac- 
ter is much like the currant. On account of the 
thorns on the gooseberry it is apt to be allowed to 
become more filled up with old canes than the cur- 
rant. However, these old canes should be removed 
after their value as fruit producers has passed, which 
is with the third year. Weak shoots that come up 
from the base should also be cut out entirely, or at 
least be shortened in to two or three buds. The sig- 
nificant thing with the gooseberry is to prune so as 
to renew the bearing wood, and have it always 
strong and vigorous. Keep the amount of wood re- 
duced to the point at which the plant is able to sup- 
ply it properly with food material, and not allow 
the center of the stools to fill up with old canes. 

The gooseberry and currants in some parts of the 
country are trained into tree form. Only one cane is 
allowed to grow from the roots, and at a convenient 
height side branches are formed and kept trimmed 
so as to make a small tree-like head. While such 
plants are very ornamental, ind produce a generous 
amount of fruit, they are liable to be attacked by 
borers or fungus, and as soon as the main stem is 
injured the whole plant dies. It is better in commer- 
cial plantings to allow a stool of shoots to develop. 
Where one or more are then attacked by enemies, 
other canes are at hand to renew the plant. 

PRUNING SHADE AND ORNAMENTAL 

TREES. 
In pruning shade trees it is easier to say don't 
than do. In apples and peaches certain specific 
facts can be given in regard to pruning, but in shade 



32 HINTS ON PRUNING 

trees it is much more difficult. As common as 
shade trees are, and as many tree-admirers as there 
are, it would seem as though the rudiments of prun- 
ing ought to be general knowledge. Yet a most 
casual <ylimpse at the shade and street trees decorat- 
ing our city streets will reveal most painfully the 
fact that careful pruning is an unknown art to the 
general public. One does not have to be a lover 
of beautiful trees to see the devastation and ruin 
wrought by the "tree-butcher" as he chops and saws 
off the tops of our trees. "Trimming the trees," he 
calls it. But from the stubs left after the trees are 
"trimmed" one might better call it anything else. 

It is not a difficult undertaking to prune the shade 
trees properly. The general principles or most rudi- 
mentary facts regarding pruning are sufficient in- 
formation in most cases. And where there are some 
especially fine trees, that the owner wants to have 
properly pruned, it would be best to call on some 
one who is competent to advise how to prune the 
trees correctly if this expert's services cannot be 
obtained to actually do the work. Trees differ so 
greatly in habit of growth that it is not possible to 
lay down positive directions for pruning. However, 
certain general factors in the work may be given. 

Begin with the young tree. Have the tree careful- 
ly planted in good soil Shape the tree when it is 
fet, so that in subsequent years it mav develop its 
form naturally. This shaping is done in the same 
manner as given for the apple. Leave first of all a 
strong limb in the center for the leader, and make 
all other branches subordinate to that. If there are 
two or more branches struggling for the central po- 
sition in the tree, cut one off entirely or at least 
shorten it in to a few buds in len^jth. If it is cut en- 
tirely off, make the cut close to the body of the tree 
so that the wound formed will heal over quickly. 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 63 

Avoid leaving a short stub wherever it is necessary 
to remove a branch. Make the cuts close to the 
body of the tree, since by doing so the healing 
over of the wound will be done more quickly, and rot 
not be so apt to start in the trunk. The lateral 
branches on the young tree to be planted should be 
so cut that the outline of the pruned tree will be 
cone-shaped. In each season after the tree is plant- 
ed some pruning should be done. It may be neces- 
sary to remove only a few whips each season. In 
fact, if the tree is properly cared for a heavier in- 
strument than a pocket knife is never needed. But 
there are few trees indeed which are so carefully 
pruned! 

It is seldom that the shade trees are thought of 
as needing pruning till they have become quite ma- 
ture, then the man-of-all-work is called in and told 
to "trim them up." Since this individual usually 
knows nothing of the correct way of pruning the 
trees it happens that the entire top is removed and 
nothing left. That method of pruning cannot be too 
strongly condemned. It results in ruined trees. A 
mass of sprouts will come from the stubs which are 
left, and in the course of only a few years these, 
shoots will be struggling with each other for thd 
central position in the tree. The cutting back has 
interrupted the shape the tree had originally formed, 
and nothing can be done atterwards to get it back. 
When the head of the trees become large and make 
too much shade in the door yard, don't cut their 
heads off! Shorten back the longest branches to a 
strong branch lower down, and on this side branch, 
if it is too long, shorten it back in the same way. 
Always cut back to a side branch, and make the 
cut in such manner that the wound will heal over 
most quickly. This will usually be done by making 
the cut start in the angle formed with the side 



64 HINTS ON PRUNING 

branch and letting it follow through the limb to be 
removed in the same direction as the side branch to 
be left. The side branch will then stand on the 
highest point of the cut. The new wood which will 
cover over the wound will then have the most direct 
flow, and a few seasons' growth will cover the 
wound completely. In case the limb to be removed 
is very large and there is danger of its splitting and 
tearing off a strip of wood from the lower part of 
the limb, it is best to saw the limb off in 
two places. This is done by making the first cut a 
foot or more above the point at which it is desired 
to remove the limb. Begin on the under side of the 
limb and cut half way through. Then saw the limb 
off from above, making the second cut just above 
the first one. The heavy portion of the limb will 
then have been removed and there will be no danger 
in subsequent cutting of tearing the wood or bark 
by the fall of the top. After the top of the limb 
is removed, cut the stub off at the proper place, saw- 
ing from above or below as may be most convenient. 
In case of very large limbs it will be safest to always 
begin the sawing upon the lower side. In case the 
limb should fall, there will not be so much possibil- 
ity for it to split the trunk. Some few days after 
removing a large limb, after the surface of the 
v/ound has dried, give it a thick coat of linseed oil 
paint. White lead and linseed oil is the best mate- 
rial to use, and it may be tinted any shade desired, 
to match the bark of the tree. Put on a thick coat of 
this paint to cover the wound and keep out water and 
germs of rot fungi and bacteria. 

In shortening in these limbs, leave the strongest 
and most central one for a leader and make all 
others subordinate to it. When trees are so shaped 
there is not so much danger of their being broken 
to pieces or badly split in severe wind or ice 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 65 

Storms. It is possible for one who is skilled in 
pruning to make a fairly vv^ell-shaped tree from one 
which is badly forked, but it is easier to have beauti- 
ful old trees if they are properly cared for and kept 
beautiful while they are young. 

The character of the tree and the purpose to which 
it is put determines to some extent the form which 
it must be given in pruning. For trees such as the 
Pin Oak, Sycamore, Hard Maple. Pines and Cypress, 
it is difficult to keep a central leader from being 
formed, and difficult to make other than a cone- 
shaped tree. The natural form of growth is with a 
strong central trunk with all the branches arising 
from it. In others, as the Silver Maple, Elm, Box 
Elder, Walnut, Coffee Bean an(4 some of the Oaks, 
the natural habit is with an open spreading top, 
with no well-defined center. In such trees it is dif- 
ficult to maintain a leader, although it is not impos- 
sible in all of them. For those trees, whose wood 
is tough and strong enough to withstand the strain 
of a wind storm without breaking, the natural habit 
may be allowed, but for those whose forked branches 
are split and twisted in the storms it is best to ar- 
range the branches in such manner as will best with- 
stand the strain put upon them. The American Elm 
is one of our most beautiful trees, yet one which will 
develop only a wide-spreading top, giving the out- 
line the symmetry of a gracefully molded vase. For- 
tunately nature has provided this magnificent tree 
with a tough cross-grained wood difficult to split. 
Its long Y-shaped arms can withstand the most se- 
vere gales without splitting. On the other hand, the 
Silver Maple, urless most carefullv shaped, v/ill split 
badly on the slightest provocation. This is some- 
what unfortunate perhaps, because it is of rapid 
grov/th and is extensively planted as a yard and 
street tree. And in the greater majority of cases 



66 HINTS ON PRUNING 

the trees at the time of planting could have been so 
pruned that most of the splitting would have been 
avoided. 

PRUNING SHRUBS. 

It is a hopeful sign in American gardening to see 
an increasing number of our native shrubs planted 
for home decoration. Our climate is well adapted to 
the growth of flowerings shrubs, and when we learn 
tD give them deep rich soil, fertilize and cultivate 
them well and prune them properly much more will 
have been done to improve the appearance of the, 
home ground By far the least understood art in 
the handling of decorative shrubbery is that of prop- 
erly pruning them. It is easier to tell what not to do 
than it is to tell what to do, and it is still easier to 
show how to orune the various shrubs than it is to 
tell how. The most cruel way m which flowering 
shrubs can be treated is to turn the man-of-all-work 
loose on them with a pair to pruning shears and 
the instructions to "trim them irxto shape." This 
will usually result in all of the shrubs being sheared 
off into an even shape, or carved into various geo- 
metrical figures, all of which are entirely the oppo- 
site of what is desired in the plan of growing usually 
practiced in this country. 

In America the principal style of planting is that 
which follows the style taken by wild plants grow-, 
ing under the care of nature, where each plant is 
allowed to develop according to its own individu- 
ality. In a shrubbery border about the home grounds 
then, each shrub should be allowed to develop its 
special graces in the line of its natural growth. This 
cannot be done by cutting back all of the branches 
on the plant to an even length, or trimming into for- 
mal shapes. This shearing not only destroys the 
natural beauty of outline of the shrub, but lessens its 



FRUIT-GKOWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 67 

ability to produce flowers and fruit and weakens its 
constitution. 

There are two or three elementary rules to be ob- 
served in the pruning of shrubs where the produc-i 
tion of flowers is desired. Those shrubs which 
blossom early in the spring form their flower buds 
the year before, and these buds may be seen on the 
slender branches of the plant at any time during the 
winter. The removal of these branches during the 
winter, then, means that there is danger of remov- 
ing the flowers, and there will be no blooms in the 
spring. If, however, the branches are cut back in 
the summer after the flowering season is over, the 
growth of new shoots will be encouraged and a 
larger setting of flower buds obtained. This ^yill 
make the shrubs take on a much more decorative 
appearance in the spring than if the pruning is post- 
poned till the following winter or spring. 

Those plants which flower in the middle or latter 
part of summer, such as the Altheas, Tamarisks and 
Hydrangeas, should have their pruning done in the 
late fall or early spring before the buds start. The 
flowering wood, in these cases the flower buds, are 
formed on the wood grown during the current sum- 
mer, and the removal of the wood during the early 
part of the season encourages the growth and de- 
velopment of strong wood and well-nourished flower 
buds. Shrubs are not grown principally for their 
flowers, but for their beauty throughout the entire 
year. For the amateur who has had no experience 
in pruning shrubs it might be suggested that the 
plants be pruned after they have flowered. But how 
is this pruning to be done? Let us see. 

We must remember that pruning is done for sev- 
eral purposes, none of which must be sacrificed for 
the other. We prune to keep the shrubs within 
bounds and to prevent their overcrowding their 



68 HINTS ON PRUNING 

neighbors; also to keep the bushes in proper shape 
for the production of flowers. As a general state- 
ment it may be said to remove all wood which has 
produced flowers, cutting either in the spring or 
summer, as may be necessary. New flowering wood 
is then formed for the next season's crop. And in 
this removal of old wood, any which is weak or dead 
or rubbing another branch should be removed at the 
same time. Cut back any branches which have 
borne a crop of flowers to a strong young shoot or 
back to the ground. Allow all strong new canes 
from the ground to develop, and shorten in slightly 
any side branches that may have formed on the new 
canes, or which were left on the older canes. 

PRUNING FOR SPRING FLOWERS. 

Among the common spring flowering shrubs are 
the Spireas, Lilac, Deutzias. These and all other 
spring-flowering shrubs should have their pruning 
done in early summer just after the flowering 
period has passed. In the Spireas cut away all of 
the old wood close to the ground, and if the stool 
is large, thin out some of the center canes, which 
are weak and not well clothed with either leaves 
or flowers. This may mean that quite a large pro- 
portion of the shrub may need to be cut out, espe- 
cially if the shrub has not been pruned for some 
seasons. If the plant has had its top sheared to an 
even length on all of the canes, remove all of the( 
largest canes, which have produced several small 
shoots near the top. Allow the strongest of the 
young canes coming up from the roots to grow their 
full length and bend or branch as they may be in- 
clined. The removal of all of the old sheared canes 
will then allow the shrub to renew its natural sym- 
metry and grace, and form its profusion of blooms 
in a more becoming manner. It very often happens 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 69 

that the best manner to renew a plant which has 
been sheared into some formal shape is to cut alii 
of the canes off even with the surface of the soil: 
All new canes which then develop are allowed to 
make growth as they will. The subsequent pruning 
can then be done in the proper manner more easily 
than where the shrub is renewed by the partial re- 
moval of the sheared canes. This process, how- 
ever, causes the loss of the flowers for one or two 
seasons and may make the shrubbery border look 
bleak and bare for at least one winter season follow- 
ing the pruning. But the bushes will break awa^^ 
freely and form dense, handsorre bushes and flowers, 
so freelv the following season that the loss of one 
crop of flowers will be forgotten. It is needless to 
say that the removal of all of the canes must be 
done in the winter or early spring in order to get 
a renewal of the canes. If done in the summer when 
the plants are in full leaf there is danger of killing 
the entire plant, or at least lowering its vitality to 
a great extent. This is because the food substance 
stored up in the roots has nearly all passed up into 
the branches to be used in the production of flowers 
and new wood, and little is left in the roots to push 
out new canes from the roots. While if the pruning 
is done in the winter or early spring all of the food 
material in the roots will pass into new growths 
from the roots and the plant be entirely renewed 
with strong new canes the first summer. 

PRUNING FOR SUMMER FLOWERS. 

Plants which produce their flowers in the late 
summer bear those flowers on the v^ood which 
formed during that summer. Naturally then the 
pruning of those shrubs should be done in the early 
spring before the growth starts. For example, the 



70 HINTS ON PRUNING 

large panicled Hydrangea may be cut back in the 
fall or early spring to a couple of buds on each 
annual shoot. A very vigorous growth will result. 
Many of the branches which start will be in the 
center of the plant, where they will be crowded and 
shaded so that only a weak branch will be formed. 
These should be pinched out early in the summer 
and allow all of the growth to be made in the 
stronger shoots. All of the strong branches formed 
during the season will bear a well-developed flower 
heaa at its extremity so that the entire bush is well 
clothed with bloom in late summer. 

It should not be forgotten, though, that too much 
pruning weakens plants. The forcing of the energy 
of the plants into the production of flowers reduces 
the vitality, and a heavy crop of flowers in any one 
season may result in a small production of flowers 
during the next season. To those who watch closely 
the growth of their plants this will soon be apparent 
and due allowance can be made for the production 
oi flowers or the shape of the plant. No specific 
rules can be laid down to be followed to the letter 
ill the matter of pruning ornamental shrubbery. 
Much depends on the individual plant and on the 
caretaker. Close observation of the habits of the 
various plants will soon instruct one as to what to 
do and what to not do. The best way to prune 
shrubs is purely a matter of experience; what may 
do for one person or one shrub may not do at all 
for another. 

THE HEALING OF WOUNDS. 

It is easily observable to all those associated with 
trees that wounds m.ade in pruning sometimes heal 
directly, leaving no injury to the tree, and that on 
the other hand they sometimes fail to heal well, de- 
cay may set in, and the tree may count the begin- 



FRUIT-GROWEK CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 7i 

ning of its untimely death from the formation- of 
this wound in pruning. It is well to bear in mind 
that the healing of wounds bears relation to three 
important points: The season when the cut was 
made, the way in which the operation was per- 
formed and the treatment which was given the 
wound, or often more properly, the treatment which 
was neglected. 

As to the season when pruning may be done so 
the wounds will heal most rapidly, it may be said 
in a general way that wounds heal most readily if 
they are made when growth of the tree is most 
rapid. This is usually in the spring after length 
growth of the tree is well under way. In fact it is 
sometimes about the first part of the summer. 
"Wounds properly made at that time usually close 
over in a short time, especially if they are not large. 
The cone-bearing trees which exude much pitch heal 
decidedly better if pruned at the beginning of sum- 
mer. If they are cut in the winter the wounds 
exude much pitch, which fills the wound and often 
hardens so the new growing layer cannot well cover 
it. If wounds are made when the tree is frozen 
they are likely to check and dry out so much that 
rot may set in before they can heal the following; 
summer. If pruning is done on warm days in win- 
ter or early spring, when the wood is not frozen, 
the wounds will not heal of course until after growth 
begins in the spring, but if they are properly at- 
tended to there is no reason why they should not 
heal without decay when summer does come. If 
pruning is done at that season in spring (varying) 
with different species), when the wounds will bleed, 
or exude sap, the wounds may fail to heal on ac- 
count of organisms of decay starting in this sap, 
when perhaps they would not have gained entrance 
to the wood if it had not been for this sap. 



72 HINTS ON PRUNING 

A wound heals most readily if it is cut so the 
growing layer of the tree can close over it. That 
is, if a limb is being removed it should be cut close 
to the body of the trunk or larger limb from which 
it is being removed. No knot should be left. Where 
such a limb is removed one must rely upon thei 
growing layer of the tree to close over the wound. 
The growing layer is between bark and wood. If a 
knot is left its growing layer dies back to the body 
of the tree from which the limb was cut. This 
means that the knot which is left will die and the 
tree cannot close over it until its diameter increases 
sufficiently to press out beyond the entire knot. 
This may take years. If the limb is cut close, so no 
knot remains, the growing layer will begin to close 
over the wound as soon as growth begins. If the 
cut is made during the growing season the wound 
will immediately begin to heal. If the wound is not 
large the wound will heal in a single season. It 
makes a larger wound to cut a limb close than it 
does to cut it farther out, leaving a short knot. 
The larger wound will heal more quickly, however, 
because there is no knot there to hold the growing 
layer from closing over the wound. 

The treatment of wounds is important. First, the 
cutting should be done with a sharp instrument, so 
the wound will not be ragged. If a saw is used it 
should be sharp and handled so as to make a smooth 
cut. If a knife is used the same precaution should 
be taken. A smooth wound, which leaves a smooth, 
uninjured line of growing layer will heal better 
than a ragged wound. The wound should be treat- 
ed if it is more than one-third of an inch in diam- 
eter. The best treatment is to cover it with some- 
thing which will preserve the wood. To preserve 
the wood means to keep it from decaying. If decay 
sets into the wound it mav run down into the tree 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 73 

and injure it before the wound can heal over. White 
lead paint and oil, such as would be used on the! 
weather boards of a building, is about as good as 
anything with which to dress wounds. It preserves 
wood. In preserving the wood of a wound it ac- 
complishes just what it does in preserving the wood 
of a house. Preventing decay of the wound favors 
its healing. A wound should be painted as soon as 
the surface of the wood dries after the cut is made. 
If the weather is pleasant the paint should be put on 
the next day after the wound is made. If the wound 
is large two coats of paint should be applied, just as 
two coats are necessary to keep the wood of a house 
from decay. The first coat should be allowed to dry 
a day or two and the second coat should be applied. 
If trees have been neglected and any wounds, 
made bv improper pruning or by breaking of limbs, 
are seen at any time they may be corrected by 
shortening the knot, or any dead parts, and painted 
so they will heal more readily. In cutting back a 
branch the wound will heal more readily if one cuts 
back to a vigorous side shoot, so that this growing 
shoot will terminate the limb after it is shortened. 
If one cuts back to a bare stub, which is terminated 
by no growing shoot, the stub will die back to the 
first growing shoot below. 



ST. <JOSErPH. MISSOUBtl 



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